Do Japan's Futuristic Toilets Help Working Women?

Japan’s public toilets are notoriously luxurious. The most elegant loos in department stores, airports, and highway rest stops boast amenities such as plush couches, surround sound music, art exhibits, and even a booth that blasts pollen off users’ bodies by air jet. Such features are found among the 28 bathrooms the Japanese government chose for its “Toilet of the Year” awards last fall.

One winner at the Narita airport doubles as a working showroom of toilet technology, showing off the wonders of Japanese commodes. The competition also recognized bathrooms devised for people with disabilities (one winning design includes a separate toilet for a service dog) and makeshift toilets designed for survivors of natural disasters. The main group the contest targeted, though, was Japanese women—which is evidence of the government’s desire for women to increase their participation in the public sphere.